That price – known as the offer cap – happens when the grid gets stretched to capacity. It’s essentially the maximum amount companies can charge for wholesale power. Today the commission tripled the cap from its level of $3,000 earlier in the year to $9,000. (Earlier this summer the commission increased the offer cap to $4,500.)

Some consumer and trade groups are opposed to the change, as it isn’t clear what kind of impact the higher wholesale prices could have on residential customers. The Texas Industrial Energy Consumer group said in a memo to the commission that if the $9,000 price caps were in place during the long, hot year of 2011, it would have added 80 percent to wholesale power prices, an overall increase of $13.3 to $14 billion.